FIRST SECTION

------- 

NOTE TO E. YAROSLAVSKY.
[18 January 1919]
What, in your view, is the essence of the opposition?¹
¹ At the Moscow Party Conference, which opened on 18 January 1919, an opposition group headed by E. N. Ignatov, Lisitsyn, and some other workers of the Moscow Soviet demanded a "fundamental revision of the Soviet constitution," "liquidation of the Council of People's Commissars," and limitation of the Party's leading role in relation to the Soviets, defending on the question of relations between center and localities, Party and Soviets, views in the spirit of the Sapronov group and democratic centralism. (On Lenin's speech at the conference against the opposition, see Works, vol. XXIII, p. 472.) The resolution proposed by the opposition was rejected by the conference. The note to Yaroslavsky, chairman of the conference, was written by Lenin at the first session of the conference, beneath the text of a copy of the resolutions of the Moscow Committee on matters discussed at the conference that he had in hand.

NOTE TO A. M. NIKOLAEV.
[24 February 1919]
Nikolaev: bring to court those responsible for sending a congratulatory telegram¹.

¹ A congratulatory telegram to the Central Committee of the Party and the Chairman of the Comintern was sent in Lenin's name by the chairman of the first Ishim district conference of Bolsheviks (apparently at the opening of the conference).
A. M. Nikolaev was Deputy People's Commissar of Posts and Telegraphs.

NOTE TO G. E. ZINOVIEV.
[3 March 1919]
I think a special resolution is needed on the bourgeoisie and the proletarian revolution. Perhaps call it "bürgerliche Demokratie."

¹ In his report to the First Congress of the Comintern "On Bourgeois Democracy and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat," Lenin mentions a meeting of the resolutions commission, held the day before, that is, on 3 March 1919, which discussed the question of winning a Communist majority in the Soviets of those countries where Soviet power had not yet triumphed. The note was apparently written by Lenin during the commission's discussion of the resolution for Lenin's forthcoming speech on 4 March on this subject.

NOTE TO THE SECRETARY.
[8 March 1919]
If Khryashcheva lives far away and walks on foot, then one feels sorry for her. At an opportunity and tactfully explain to her that on days when there are no statistical questions, she can leave earlier and even not come.

¹ The note was written at a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars.
¹ A. I. Khryashcheva was a member of the board of the Central Statistical Administration.

DIRECTIVE TO THE SECRETARY.
[18 March 1919]
Call
1) Milyutin
2) Vladimirsky

In my opinion, it is necessary to overturn the decision of the U District Executive Committee and leave the station to the volost.

Lenin.

¹ Peasants from the village of Ukhlovo, Ryazan Province, turned to Lenin with a request to overturn the decision of the Ryazh District Executive Committee on the nationalization of an electrical station in the volost.

NOTE TO A DELEGATE TO THE IX CONGRESS OF THE RCP.
[Before 28 March 1919]
Possible. The Central Committee Bureau will decide how much.

Lenin.

¹ F. Grigoryev, a delegate from Novgorod to the IX Congress of the RCP, asked Lenin in a note whether the Novgorod Provincial Party Committee, in connection with absolute lack of funds, could "receive a subsidy from the Central Committee, and if so, how much." Lenin wrote an answer beneath the text of Grigoryev's note.

NOTE TO S. P. SEREDA.
29 March 1919
Comrade Sereda! They say you know something about this matter? Please tell me whether you know and what? Return the enclosed note.¹

Greetings!
Your Lenin.

¹ S. P. Sereda's response: "I know nothing about this matter, but I can gather information about the commune's attitude toward the former Marchenko estate and about Mulyukin's role in this matter."

NOTE TO THE COMMANDANT OF THE KREMLIN.
7 April 1919
I ask that you allow the bearer, Comrade Philip Ilyich Bodrov, to pass into the Kremlin and into the Council of People's Commissars.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

¹ See p. 314 of this Collection.

DIRECTIVE TO THE SECRETARY.
[12 April 1919]
Contact Dzerzhinsky to see whether he will check it or assign it to Kamenev.

¹ Members of the "labor commune" of the Ivanovsky Monastery in Moscow, in a letter directed to Lenin, asked that the premises they occupied be left to them.

TELEGRAM TO THE TULA DISTRICT EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
To the Tula District Executive Committee
[16 April 1919]
I request that you inform me as soon as possible of the answer to the following questions:

1) Was there a district Tula congress in Tula on the organization of sowing? 2) In the middle of March or at what exactly? 3) Was there a proposal (whose) to send a greeting to Lenin? 4) Was there a decision by delegates for sending a greeting in general, but against sending it in the name of Communists? 5) Was the congress dispersed for this? 6) Or was it dispersed for something else? 7) If yes, under what circumstances? 8) If not, were there other tensions, and what did they consist of? 9) How many delegates were at the congress? 10) Are their names and addresses available? 11) Who was at the District Executive Committee or from the District Land Department at the congress?

It is important for me to receive an answer immediately. If it is impossible to answer all questions immediately, answer without delay those that can be answered right away, and set a deadline for answering the remaining questions.

I insist absolutely on maximum speed of response and place responsibility on the District Executive Committee if there are delays.

I request that you send me a clipping of all material about this congress from all local newspapers.

V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

¹ This telegram was prompted by the following report that Lenin received: "In the second half of March, the district Tula Soviet convened a district congress on the organization of sowing. At first (as was the custom with us), they proposed sending a congratulatory telegram to Lenin from the assembled Communists. The delegates declared: we would gladly send a telegram, but we do not agree that we are Communists. We do not wish to be them. Why should we take on whatever name?! This congress was dispersed for this as counter-revolutionary. Around 200 embittered, insulted people scattered through the district. A comrade told me this, who promised to check more carefully. Perhaps you should make an inquiry about this congress?"
The text of the telegram was typed and signed by Lenin. Based on its content, the telegram was undoubtedly dictated by Lenin.

DIRECTIVE TO THE SECRETARY.
16 April [1919]
Contact Semashko and record the exact practical results.

Lenin.

¹ In response to a request from doctor S. A. Shimkevich (in a letter from Samara) for permission to obtain ospoderitis.
N. A. Semashko was People's Commissar of Health.

NOTE TO P. N. KRESTINSKII.
28 April 1919
Comrade Krestinskii (or Comrade Ganetskii),
The bearer has a request concerning pawned items. I very much ask that you consider her request as soon as possible and resolve the matter without delay.¹

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

¹ See in detail: "Y. Ganetskii. Lenin and the Nationalization of Banks," Proletarskaya Revolyutsiya No. 6, 1926, p. 11.

NOTE TO E. M. SKLYANSKY.
2 May [1919]
Comrade Sklyansky! Conduct, that is, order conducted an inspection. Strange that an anonymous person is writing!

Lenin.

¹ Yu. M. Steklov, editor of Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, on the basis of anonymous correspondence he had received, reported to Lenin in a letter about irregularities at military instructor courses.

NOTE TO V. P. PODBELSKY.
[3 May 1919]
Congratulatory telegrams are forbidden.¹

¹ A group of workers and employees of the Kir Forest Development along the Moscow-Kazan Railroad sent Lenin a congratulatory telegram on 3 May 1919, in connection with May Day. Lenin wrote the note to Podbelsky on the blank of the telegram he had received.

NOTE TO THE ORGANIZATION BUREAU OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE.
To the Organization Bureau of the Central Committee
30 May [1919]
I am for expulsion from the Party of those participating in religious rites.

Len[in].

¹ In a letter headed "Tribute to Prejudices" addressed to the Organization Bureau of the Central Committee, B. Yaroslavsky asked the members of the bureau whether it was possible to keep in the Party Communists who adhered to religious superstitions.

TELEGRAM TO THE SAMARA PROVINCIAL PARTY COMMITTEE.
Samara
Provincial Party Committee
25 June 1919
I request that you send assessments of the military commissar Rogdaev, formerly an anarchist, now a Communist, his work capacity, his reliability, the durability of his transition to Communism. [676]
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Lenin.

CERTIFICATES TO V. V. ADORATSKY.
I.
Certificate.
27 June 1919
The bearer, Comrade Adoratsky, is personally known to me as a scholar and writer. I ask that you render him every assistance in obtaining books from all libraries, including at home under my personal guarantee.¹

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

II.
Certificate.
1 July 1919
The bearer, Comrade Vladimir Viktorovich Adoratsky, is personally known to me as a Bolshevik who worked in the Party long before the revolution.

At present he is a Soviet worker in the Commissariat of the People's Commissariat for Education.

I ask all military, railroad, and other Soviet authorities and all Soviet institutions to render Comrade V. V. Adoratsky every assistance and complete trust.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

¹ V. V. Adoratsky was working on the compilation of a popular sketch of the October Revolution.

TELEGRAM TO THE KAZAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY.
Kazan
University Library
Copy to City Public Library
27 June 1919
Telegraph whether you have complete sets of Izvestia and Pravda from October 1917. If not with you, is there another Kazan library? I need them for urgent work assigned by me to a Kazan resident.¹ [676]
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Lenin.

¹ Lenin means V. V. Adoratsky. See the previous document.

NOTE TO A. I. RYKOV.
[Later than 2 July 1919]¹
Re 1) While Shotman does not find another suitable person, we need a first-class worker in Revel for the time being.

Re 2) ?? Who will replace Gukovskii? This cannot be done.

¹ Evidence of dating: the mandate appointing A. V. Shotman as a member of the presidium of the Supreme Council of the National Economy was signed by Lenin on 2 July 1919.

² The Council of People's Commissars intended to send A. V. Shotman to Revel as the RSFSR plenipotentiary in Estonia. In a note to Lenin, written apparently at a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars, Rykov asked for: 1) A. V. Shotman's exclusive retention on work in the Supreme Council of the National Economy and 2) I. E. Gukovskii, chairman of the Main Oil Committee, who was simultaneously working in the Supreme Council of the National Economy, to work exclusively in his leading capacity in the Main Oil Committee.

NOTE TO A. I. RYKOV.¹
[8 July 1919]
In recent days there has been a heap of resignation threats: don't get hot-headed.

¹ The note was written at a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars, during the discussion of a draft decree on the appointment of Chairman of the Supreme Council of the National Economy A. I. Rykov as an extraordinary plenipotentiary of the Council of Defense for the supply of the Red Army and Red Fleet. Rykov was dissatisfied with the following formulation of point 5 of the draft decree: "All credits issued by the People's Commissariat of War for monetary allowances and supply of the Red Army, as well as all credits of the Emergency Supplies Commission, are placed at the disposal of the extraordinary plenipotentiary of the Council of Defense. The establishment of the deadline and procedure for the transfer of credits is entrusted to the Emergency Commission on consultation with the People's Commissariat of War."
Regarding this, Rykov wrote Lenin the following note: "I do not agree to these conditions. Appoint whoever you like. I am sick to death of conferences."

TELEGRAM TO THE NIZHNY NOVGOROD PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.¹
To Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Executive Committee for transmission to Sormovo Military and Civil Authorities
8 July 1919
I request that you take urgent measures through reliable Communists personally known to you to conduct a strict and absolutely impartial inspection of the attached statement:

— compile an exact factual description of how many houses, apartments, and rooms are occupied (by how many people) by employees and senior technical personnel;

— which factory house is requested for a children's home and which one can be given;

— carefully check who should have been in charge of this, the names of responsible persons, their addresses, as well as those who will conduct the investigation.

Inform me of execution immediately by mail or by courier.

Chairman of the Council of Defense V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

¹ The bureau of a women's public organization in Sormovo on 3 July 1919 turned to N. K. Krupskaya, who had come to Sormovo, with a request to allocate one of the premises of the Sormovo factory for the use of a children's home. Factory premises could be transferred to other institutions only by order of the Council of Defense, and therefore the statement of the Sormovo women's organization was forwarded to Lenin. Lenin's directive was considered on 18 July at a meeting of the presidium of the Sormovo Soviet. The final resolution of this question was transferred to the presidium of the Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Executive Committee, which decided to fulfill the request of the Sormovo women's organization.

NOTE TO Y. S. GANETSKY.
[8 August 1919]
Ask personally some reliable person to be responsible for transmission.

¹ Y. S. Ganetsky was to render assistance in transmitting an urgent letter from Lenin abroad. Lenin's letter was handed to Ganetsky along with the note presented here (see Y. S. Ganetsky "On Lenin," Krasnaya Panorama No. 3, 1932).

TELEGRAM TO K. K. YURENEV.¹
Simbirsk
Revolutionary Military Soviet of the Eastern Front
Yurenev
11 August 1919
The Central Committee finds your work in Kostroma Province necessary. Finish handing over your affairs and depart. [8291
Lenin.

¹ K. K. Yurenev was in August 1919 a member of the Revolutionary Military Soviet of the Eastern Front.

NOTE TO S. I. SEREDA.
16 August [1919]
Comrade Sereda: what have you done? what is this story about?¹

Lenin.

¹ The council of the agricultural commune Zherglya (Orsha District) turned to Lenin with a request to take measures to restore the commune, which had been destroyed by local hooligans.

NOTE TO L. B. KAMENEV.
[Not earlier than September 1919]
Comrade Kamenev!
I am returning the Menshevik articles. I read Martov and Danov.¹ I fully agree with you that they must be published and as soon as possible.

Your Lenin.

¹ Which articles are in question has not been established.

TELEGRAM TO THE REVOLUTIONARY MILITARY SOVIET OF THE WESTERN FRONT.
By direct wire and inform me of the time of delivery.
3 October 1919
Revolutionary Soviet of the Western Front
Immediately dispatch Medical Supply Depot "Litbel"¹ to Moscow, according to the directive of the People's Commissariat of Health. Report on execution precisely. [894]
Chairman of the Council of Defense Lenin.

¹ Medical Supply Depot of the Lithuanian-Belarusian Government. Ed.

NOTE TO THE COMMANDANT OF THE KREMLIN.
To the Commandant
29 October 1919
Kremlin
Today a document should arrive from a Red Army soldier (here in the Kremlin at courses)
Grigory Ivanovich Nikolsky
[from Ryazan Province].
Accept it and deliver it to me personally today.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

¹ See p. 183 of the Collection.

DIRECTIVE TO THE SECRETARY.
[14 November 1919]
Contact Rattell¹ and Milyutin and record their answer: what has been done.

¹ Written by Lenin in response to a telegraph request from the Okulovo Paper Mills to the military department to stop the mobilization of horses belonging to the mill.
Upon receiving Rattell's reply, Lenin marked the document: "To archive."
¹ N. I. Rattell was a military worker.

NOTE TO S. D. MARKOV AND V. V. SCHMIDT.
[Not earlier than 1 November 1919]
To Markov and Schmidt: what has been done?¹

¹ The Revolutionary Military Soviet of the Eastern Front in a telegram of 1 November 1919 requested equipment for military hospitals in connection with the threatening typhus epidemic in the Ufa district.

TELEGRAM TO B. S. VEISBRОД.
By direct wire
Samara
Special Commission of the People's Commissariat of Health Veisbrод¹
25 November 1919
Stay on the Turkestan Front. Another commission has gone to the Eastern Front. [958]
Chairman of the Council of Defense Lenin.

¹ B. S. Veisbrод was in 1919 chairman of the extraordinary sanitary commission to fight typhus on the Turkestan Front.

DIRECTIVE TO THE SECRETARY.
[25 December 1919]
To Semashko for presentation to the Council of Defense a draft resolution.

¹ Commander of the 8th Army G. Sokolnikov reported in a telegram to Lenin about the massive character of the typhus epidemic and requested authorization to discharge the 5th course of the Voronezh University medical school ahead of schedule, placing all discharged doctors at the disposal of the 8th Army.

DIRECTIVE TO THE SECRETARY.
18 January [1920]
Please contact Markov, telling him that I strongly support Semashko's request.

Lenin.

¹ People's Commissar of Health P. A. Semashko in a telephonogram to Lenin requested an immediate directive on faster movement of a very urgent echelon "headed by the extraordinary sanitary commission of Comrade Veisbrод, transporting material resources to the southern Front and Ukraine to fight typhus." This directive was to be issued by Deputy People's Commissar of Communications S. D. Markov.

EXCHANGE OF NOTES WITH L. B. KAMENEV,
20 JANUARY 1920.

1) KAMENEV'S QUESTION
Vladimir Ilyich,
I. Did you receive Makhno's telegram?

LENIN'S ANSWER
Yes!

2) KAMENEV'S SECOND QUESTION
Why are you signing decrees about the operetta without even inquiring into this important case about the opinion of the local authorities or without giving the operetta to local examination at all? I protest in the name of the 7th Congress.

LENIN'S ANSWER
Address yourself to the Small Council so that it call the "interested parties."

3. I ask you to satisfy Gagarin's request.¹ He is an old, decrepit man, former director of the Polytechnical Institute, now works with Krasin. He refers to the fact that next to him lives with the same document with your??? signature... Kuropatkin!

Respect the old man.

Congratulations on Rostov.

LENIN'S ANSWER
Did I give a document to Kuropatkin?? That cannot be!!

Who is Gagarin? I have no idea.²

¹ A. G. Gagarin requested a certificate with the following text, which he himself had drafted: "I allow the bearer, Engineer Andrei Grigoryevich Gagarin, to live in Pskov Province, Porhov District, Shevnitskaya Volost, in the People's House of my name in 'Kholmki.' I request local authorities not to trouble Gagarin, not to take him hostage, not to requisition his property, and to give him the necessary amount of kerosene for his occupations, which I consider useful for the republic."

² Kamenev's answer: "I will ask Vladimirsky by telephone. But I brought you today precisely to laugh at the style of former dignitaries: this is his formulation."
Above Kamenev's answer, Lenin wrote a directive to the secretary: "Preserve. Kamenev's note about Gagarin."

LENIN'S ANSWER.
NOTES ON KAMENEV'S NOTE.

NOTE TO L. B. KAMENEV.
[20 January 1920]
If the question is posed thus, then dictate to your secretary a document: protest against the Small Council and a draft resolution for the Large Council (that the Small Council does not meddle without special grounds in local affairs and is always obliged to ask the local Soviets of Workers' Deputies, except in cases of extreme emergency).¹

¹ In a note to Lenin, Kamenev expressed protest against the decision of the Small Council of People's Commissars to close the operetta at the Nikitsky Theater. In Kamenev's opinion, the resolution of this question fell within the competence not of the central but of the local organs of power, in this case the Moscow Department of Public Education.

NOTE TO L. B. KAMENEV
[26 January 1920]
If we start changing questions now, we will lose time and get even more tangled. Better to stick to what has been adopted: inevitably there will be much water at first (and perhaps to the end as well).

¹ Written apparently at a meeting of the Central Committee of the Party with representatives of the Central Bureau of Communist organizations of the Peoples of the East, in response to a note from Kamenev, who proposed to Lenin to change the order of discussion of questions connected with the organization of the Tatar-Bashkir Republic.

NOTE ON A TELEGRAM FROM GLAVUGOL'.¹
13 February 1920
Request the Ukrainian Council of People's Commissars (in Kharkov) by telephone.

¹ The note was made on a telegram from the Glavugol' representative in Kharkov about disorderly eviction of Yugotop employees from apartments. On the reverse of the telegram, the text of a telegram to Kharkov written by the secretary is preserved.

NOTE TO P. D. MALKOV.
13 March 1920
Comrade Malkov!
I request you to give Comrade Gleb Maksimilianovich Kzhizhanovsky a room in the Kremlin and out of the Kremlin.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

NOTE TO L. A. FOTIEVA.
[17 March 1920]
Lida Al.!
Tell him that I forwarded the address for decrees to the Central Committee Bureau (and send it there), and that he can write to me directly to Moscow, Kremlin.¹

¹ A peasant from Samara Province, E. Nikitin, turned to Lenin with a request for decrees and other materials necessary for him to guide a peasant circle.

SECOND SECTION

NOTE TO M. I. GLASSER.¹
[Not later than 10 March 1919]
Give me a short draft resolution:
Bureau of the collective¹ — has the following assignments
— composition
— relation to the manager
— right of appeal
I will move it along...

¹ M. I. Glasser, one of the employees of the secretariat of the Council of People's Commissars, in a note to Lenin requested authorization for the existence of a bureau of a collective of employees under the management of affairs of the Council of People's Commissars. The bureau set as its task, in connection with insufficiently established work in the management of affairs of the Council of People's Commissars, oversight of the recruitment, dismissal, and work of employees of the management.
¹ In the manuscript a typo: "kollektivov." Ed.

NOTE TO V. D. BONCH-BRUEVICH.
[10 March 1919]
Comrade V. D. Bonch-Bruevich: Please give me your conclusion or corrections, etc. today itself.

Lenin.

¹ V. D. Bonch-Bruevich was to provide a conclusion about the "position of the bureau of a collective of employees under the management of affairs of the Council of People's Commissars."

NOTE TO THE SECRETARY.
[18 March 1919]
Not necessary
if there are absolutely urgent ones, let him name them.

¹ Reply to a note from M. I. Glasser, who, at the request of Y. Agranov, secretary of the Small Council of People's Commissars, asked Lenin: "could the Council of People's Commissars today approve several protocols of the Small Council and should Agranov serve as secretary today?"

LETTER TO A. S. ENUKIDZE.
[Not later than 31 March 1919]
Comrade Enukidze
Please give your assessment of the attached material.
Does it correspond to the norm?
Is it not too much?
And is it possible to give rights to the collective, not approved by me?
Please send me your project of corrections.
(How are things in other institutions on this account?)
Your Lenin.

¹ Lenin means the draft "Regulations on the Rights and Obligations of the Bureau of the Collective of Employees Under the Management of Affairs of the Council of People's Commissars" submitted to him for approval — see p. 299 of the Collection.

DIRECTIVE TO V. D. BONCH-BRUEVICH.¹
[3 April 1919]
Do not clog the direct wire; send telegrams instead, series A.

Lenin.

¹ Lenin's reply to a request he received by telegraph from the management of affairs of the Ukrainian Council of People's Commissars about daily transmission to Kiev over the direct wire of current information and newspaper summaries.

NOTE TO D. I. KURSKY.
[Not later than 5 April 1919]¹
It is time to approve the general regulations of the Council of People's Commissars.
1. To reporters — 10 minutes.
2. To speakers first time — 3, second time — 3 minutes.
3. Speak not 2× times.
4. On order 1 for and 1 against per 1 minute.
5. Exceptions by special resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars.

¹ Evidence of dating: the regulations of the Council of People's Commissars, on D. I. Kursky's report, were approved on 5 April 1919 (Protocol of the Council of People's Commissars No. 275, point 9).

NOTE TO THE SECRETARY.
[April 1919]
Already done. Why waste paper and why "bureau of the collective," if it does not know what is under its nose?¹

¹ One of the employees of the secretariat of the Council of People's Commissars asked Lenin to write his opinion on the question of the dismissal (due to a misunderstanding) of one of the messengers of the Council of People's Commissars.

DIRECTIVE TO THE MANAGEMENT OF AFFAIRS OF THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE'S COMMISSARS.
9 May 1919
1) Permanent [passes] — only to employees, with a note of where and for whom [they] work.
   — no more. Ed.

2) Temporary from 1 day to 1 month.
3) Two signatures: a) V. D. Bonch-Brueich;
   b) Ozerevskaya¹ or a member of the collective committee.

Lenin.

¹ Vl. D. Bonch-Bruevich wrote to Lenin about a number of misunderstandings that had occurred in the Kremlin pass bureau and asked for his instructions on the question of passes.
² L. Ozerevskaya was at this period one of the secretaries of the Small Council of People's Commissars.

DIRECTIVE TO THE COMMISSARIATS.
31 July 1919
All decrees, resolutions, mandates, telegrams, etc., requiring my signature must come to me for signature necessarily through the secretary. All resolutions adopted and signed outside of meetings of the Council of People's Commissars and the Council of Defense must be reported at a meeting for entry into the protocol and for informing all members of the Council of People's Commissars and the Council of Defense.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

NOTE TO THE SECRETARY.
[4 September 1919]
Honestly, I will raise a scandal if you go on chattering like this instead of writing notes.

DIRECTIVE TO THE SECRETARY.
[1919]
1) hang announcements in neighboring rooms: conversation is forbidden.
2) repair the door: it creaks.

¹ The text of the directive was typed and signed by Lenin. Ed.
² Below are the signatures of members of the Council of Labor and Defense and Council of People's Commissars (receipts of acknowledgment of Lenin's directive). Ed.

CERTIFICATE.
Certificate.
25 January 1920
The bearer — ... is personally known to me as a member of the RCP. I ask that letters and packages from her bearing my name be accepted in military and other Soviet institutions for delivery to me along with other government documents.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

TELEPHONOGRAM TO THE PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIAT OF POSTS AND TELEGRAPHS.
25 January 1920
I request that you lay a direct wire as soon as possible to my switchboard (3rd floor, Kremlin, Court Buildings).

To the Electrorelay. Office of Gleb Maksimilianovich Kzhizhanovsky.
30 Sadovniki, 30.
I request notification of execution.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

LETTER TO G. L. VOLLENBERG AND A. M. NIKOLAEV.¹
People's Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs
To the Manager of Telephone Communications, member of the Board Vollenberg,
Copy to Deputy People's Commissar of Posts and Telegraphs Nikolaev
19 February 1920
I have repeatedly, over several weeks, made the demand for the quickest repair of my telephone to Kharkov, given that this telephone is extremely necessary to me.

¹ The text was written by Lenin on the letterhead of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. The letter was begun in black ink and finished in red ink. Ed.

It turned out that after the wire was completely repaired, I spoke on February 15th and heard Kharkov excellently (which means the wire is in repair), but they did not hear me from Kharkov (the Field Headquarters in Kharkov did hear me). This means the problem is either in the receiver or in the wire from me to the Field Headquarters. A trivial repair, but even that they dragged out!

On February 15th, 1920, I informed Nikolaev of this outrage.

Only on February 18th did a technician appear, saying that the powder in the receiver was fine (but it should be coarse) and fixed a few things.

On February 18th after lunch I spoke with Kharkov. I heard Kharkov (but worse than last time: there was noise), they did not hear me in Kharkov.

On February 18th at 11-12 midnight I called Comrade Nikolaev and demanded repair (or replacement of the receiver) by 12 o'clock on February 19th, because I need to speak today.

Today February 19th at 10:45 a.m. the technician has still not appeared!

For such absolute negligence displayed in a small but important matter, I declare

to Comrade Vollenberg
a reprimand with a warning that next time I will turn the matter over to the courts.

I demand the appointment of a responsible supervisor for my telephone. Report to me the name, address, telephone of this supervisor and send him to me personally.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

NOTES TO G. L. VOLLENBERG AND A. YA. LYUBOVICH.
I.
To Vollenberg
and
Lyubovich¹
[21 February 1920]
Yesterday, February 22nd, the telephone conversation with Kharkov was again unsuccessful. First conversation: I heard Manuylsky² and Petrovsky,³ they did not hear me.

Second conversation (half an hour later): I did not hear them either.

What measures are you taking